


The Harsh Light of Day

by suecsit



Category: Cobra Kai, The Karate Kid
Genre: AU, Daniel's the hot mess, Johnny's the stable one, M/M, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-09
Updated: 2018-11-09
Packaged: 2019-08-21 03:08:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,303
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16568462
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/suecsit/pseuds/suecsit
Summary: Johnny and Daniel have their first lunch date.





	The Harsh Light of Day

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry for the delay on this, folks! I've been reenergized by the new readers that are lurking around here from other archives and from the wonderful energy of my quiver. I'm not a NaNoWriMo girl, but I like the principle behind it. Doing something creative every day is such a healing thing.

Johnny looked around the restaurant. Of course Daniel wasn’t here yet. The place was packed, so maybe he was wrong about that, but still…he sensed that the building didn’t hold that weird energy…that need to bulldoze through the china shop in a drunken stupor…

Because that’s what he’d sensed in Daniel since he had spent the night on Johnny’s couch. Daniel had come to the bar once or twice over the past week or so. When he showed up, he always drank too much, but he ordered from another employee, as if to say that he respected Johnny’s rules about not being in physical contact when inebriated. He’d sit at the corner table in the bar and stare at Johnny the same way he did when he would stare from the bench overlooking the beach.

Finally Johnny had broken his own rule and touched Daniel on the shoulder one night. When the man turned to face him, he confessed that he HAD come clean about blowing off the San Diego car show that weekend he ended up passing out at the apartment. When Johnny asked how it went, how it felt to be honest, Daniel simply shook his head and hunched his shoulders. 

Johnny left his hand on Daniel’s shoulder a little too long that night.

This brought them to today. He had recently stopped by the dealership again to tell Daniel he was seriously looking for a new car (which wasn’t a lie). And when Daniel took him around the lot, Johnny told him they should have lunch. He didn’t come away with a new car that day, but he did come away with a date--one of those daytime dates that ensured no funny business would cloud their chance at connecting as human beings.

And Johnny made sure to pick a place that wasn’t going to serve alcohol. 

The waitress saw him survey the floor and then led him to a booth where he sat down on a torn vinyl seat and busied himself by checking his texts. There had been a few from Bobby. Most said nearly the same thing each time: “just checking in…hope you’re being smart” or “you talked to Daniel lately?”

Johnny hadn’t returned the messages yet and didn’t know if he would. There was another text… a surprise one. From his son. Something about making honor society and wanting his dad to come to the ceremony. Johnny felt a weight lift off his chest momentarily. 

Until Daniel sat down across from him.

The man’s face was pale and his hands didn’t look very steady. He reached for the plastic cup of water and drained some of it down before saying a word.

“Thirsty much?” Johnny said, eyeing him suspiciously. As usual, the man was dressed impeccably, but that was all that was impeccable about him. There were circles under his eyes and his hair was unkempt, as if he had napped in his car before he entered the restaurant. 

Daniel set the cup down a bit too loudly. “No. Just a long day.” 

“It’s only 11:30,” Johnny couldn’t help but add. “What the hell’s wrong with you?”

“Nothing,” he snapped back. “Ignore me, it’s just…”

“This is a date,” Johnny reminded him. “Can you at least try to act like it?”

Daniel nodded, looking momentarily ashamed. He sat up a little in his seat. “How was your day?” he asked, but it was clear he didn’t care one bit.

“Fuck my day,” Johnny said, lowering his voice when he saw a three year old smiling across the aisle from them. “Daniel’s what the matter with you?”

“I just…today I tried to sell at least three new models, and my customers walked away from me. Like I was the plague or something.” 

“I’m sure that’s not really what they—“

“And Amanda’s still mad about the car show. Says she thinks she’d be a better overall manager of the place. Says I should take some ‘time off.’” Daniel was using sarcasm in a way Johnny had never heard him before. He sounded like the edge of a knife that hadn’t been sharpened properly in years, and his voice sounded like it was coated in gravel.

Johnny closed his eyes for a moment. It had been a long time since he prayed to anything. But now…it wasn’t out of the realm of possibility that he’d be asking a deity for help. 

“I’m sorry your day sucks,” Johnny said. They looked at each other for a long moment. Daniel took another gulp of water, almost draining the glass. He looked around for a waiter.

Johnny decided to plow ahead, no matter how strange things were. “To answer you, my day’s not so bad. I actually got a text from my son Robby—“ He handed the phone to Daniel to see. Daniel glanced at it for a moment and then handed it back. 

“He’s making honor society at school,” Johnny explained. “Wants me to come to the ceremony.”

“That’s….great,” Daniel managed. “I mean it Johnny. I’m happy for you. I know you don’t hear from him much.”

“I don’t….at all…really.” 

“When we saw each other that first day in your bar you didn’t want to talk about your kid.”

“You’re right, I didn’t. This is me trying to open up a little,” Johnny admitted. 

Daniel suddenly looked vulnerable, like he recognized how important he had become in Johnny’s life. “Shit,” he muttered. “I’m sorry for my mood. I didn’t mean to….”

Johnny reached across the table and touched his hand, a finger lingering on the veins that he found on the reverse side of the palm. “I know,” he said. The hands still shook, just a little. He wondered how long it had been since Daniel had his last drink, but then he dismissed the thought, attributing the shaking to nerves. 

They both ordered cokes and burgers and then stared at each other for a while, saying nothing. It wasn’t uncomfortable exactly. More like some kind of intermission that was too short to really use as a bathroom break. Just long enough to feel the silence but not hate it.

Johnny didn’t mind the quiet. He moved his foot under the table closer to Daniel’s legs, letting it wander. 

Daniel’s eyes softened. He shifted in his seat, and his cheeks grew pink. “So this is what a date with you looks like in the harsh light of day,” he said. 

“This is what it looks like.”

Daniel started to smile for the first time. He moved his own foot to rub Johnny’s leg. “It’s not so bad.”

Johnny smiled back. The burgers arrived, and for a few minutes they ate in silence. Then, knowing it might be a mistake, he asked Daniel a question.

“Hey, at the risk of spoiling the peace between us here, I wanted to know…”

Daniel had ketchup on his chin. Johnny wanted to wipe it like he’d done before in his bar the first few times they met. Instead he just gestured, and Daniel used the napkin. “Go ahead” he said. Johnny was glad to see color was coming back to his face. The shaking had mostly stopped. 

“Why not let your wife take the business? You don’t like it. I can see it every time I visit you there.”

Daniel paused in his eating and set down the burger. “I’ve thought about it actually. Thought about starting something different, something where I get to work with kids.”

“Kids?” Johnny couldn’t help but chuckle.

“What’s so funny?”

“Nothing, it’s just….since I’ve met you…again….I haven’t heard anything positive about kids coming out of your mouth. I mean I know you love them, but that day when you came for the cokes…”

“Yeah, I know. I complain a lot. Anthony’s a spoiled brat, and Sam wants nothing to do with us—she’s a teenager, and that’s part of the territory, but I still want to help them, to see them grow. Maybe I’d take things less personally if I worked with some other kids for a while. It’s hard to explain.”

“I get it. I help out at the YMCA for the same reason. Gets my mind off of Robby. If I can’t be with him, at least I can try to make someone else happy.”

“That’s exactly it.” Daniel nodded. “I’ve always wanted to…I don’t know…pass on what was given to me. Mr. Miyagi never once asked my family for payment for karate lessons. Never asked for rent when I stayed with him. I still feel like honoring that debt somehow.”

Johnny wanted to ask something then but wasn’t sure he should. This was new, this whole pausing to take someone else’s feelings into account. 

“Ask.” 

“What?”

Daniel looked wary but motioned to Johnny to open up. “I know you have a question. I see it in your face.”

“Well, I wasn’t going to GO there, but…what happened with your teacher? I figured he’d be still around.”

“Passed away,” Daniel replied. “Not long ago, actually.” 

Johnny stayed silent.

“He…had a stroke. I was supposed to help him clean out his garage, but we had a big event at work. I didn’t get there until that evening. Paramedics think he’d been dead for several hours when I found him.”

“Shit, Daniel, I’m sorry.” 

“S’ok. Life sucks sometimes, you know?”

“Yeah, I do know.”

“Anyway….” Daniel’s voice trailed off, and he took another bite of his food. Then he said, “Let’s talk about your teacher. Where the hell is THAT maniac?”

“Who, Kreese?” 

“Yeah, that nutjob. The one who tried to kill you.”

“And the one who gave you the Cobra Kai gi—“ Johnny interjected. “Let’s not forget that part.”

“Yeah….” He thought he saw Daniel’s face turned pink at the memory of it, that night Johnny untied it and touched him.

Johnny leaned back in his seat. He left his burger unfinished. “Well,” he said, “last I heard he left town. Makes sense. He lost all his students. The dojo closed. I think it’s a Chinese restaurant now. Has been for years.”

“So basically there’s been no karate in the Valley for about what, 20 years or more…”  
Daniel furrowed his brow.

“I guess not.”

“Want to start a dojo with me?”

Johnny spit out his food. “I’m sorry, what?”

“Don’t act so shocked.” 

“Well, I am. Daniel, what the hell? Where did that come from? I have a business. You have a business.”

“Businesses we both are sick of most of the time,” Daniel challenged him.

“I’m not sick of the bar,” Johnny protested. “Things are going good.”

“Fine, forget it, then.”

“I don’t WANT to forget it. I just wonder where that came from. It’s not like we share the same fighting style. And it’s not like we’re that young anymore.”

“So?”

Johnny couldn’t believe he was actually arguing this as if it were a real possibility. “Look, Larusso…”

Daniel narrowed his eyes.

“No seriously, maybe I need to call you that and remind you that the part of our history with karate isn’t so stellar.”

“Who cares, man? I don’t have a stellar history with anyone.”

“I can believe that.”

“Shut up.”

Johnny stopped for a moment, taking a long drink of soda. He ran his hand through his hair. “If we did do this, I don’t know how much time I’d have. I’m not ready to get rid of my main business just yet.”

“I don’t know how much time I’d have either. We’re just brainstorming, Johnny. No need to get all serious on me so fast.”

“Yeah….”

“Let’s just…think about it, ok? No pressure right his moment to do anything.”  
Daniel motioned for the check. 

Johnny took out his wallet. Daniel shook his head. “My attitude today sucked. Least I can do to make it up to you is pay.”

“Fair enough.” Johnny put his wallet back up. 

After they settled the bill, they walked out in the parking lot together. “I gotta get back to it,” Daniel sighed. “I’d rather spend time with you, but…”

“Go,” Johnny motioned. “I have to set up for tonight’s shift anyway.”

“Just think about it?”

“I said I would.” 

Daniel reached out to hug him, and Johnny pulled him close. He nuzzled his neck and pressed his lips. “It’s good to see you,” he mumbled.

He felt Daniel stiffen for a moment and then melt in his arms. He saw goose bumps break out on his neck where he’d pressed his lips. “Even just talking about it…Johnny…I haven’t been this excited about anything in a long time. Just want you to know.”

Johnny refused to agree that the conversation about the dojo had made him feel more alive than he had in a while, too. “I know. But, you know, one step at a time, ok. You need to take care of you.” There were layers to that response, and he knew Daniel had work to do. On himself, on his family, his business….He hated the world right now, and Johnny couldn’t make him love it. 

“Just don’t…give up on me, ok?” Daniel didn’t make eye contact as they pulled back.

“Nah, I like a good fight,” Johnny chided, reaching out to playfully punch his shoulder. He watched the man’s eyes lit up when he did it. How strange that he would make Daniel happy by pretending to hit him. 

He knew in that moment they were thinking the same thing. When Daniel jumped in his SUV and Johnny was walking away, he called out after him… “Just think…if we do this…I’ll wear the gi for you every day.”

Johnny smiled to himself. “It’s what I’m counting on,” he said under his breath.


End file.
